Tech Transfer Summit

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Frank Born

Mr Born founded the CAESAR Group along with Dr Kevin Kwiat to facilitate the transfer of Air Force technology to the commercial sector. Prior to this he was a research scientist at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome NY. Mr Born has degrees in both Physics and Mechanical Engineering.

Latest posts by Frank Born (see all)

• Patenting Survey - February 24, 2020
• Tech Transfer in an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem - June 12, 2019
• AFRL Tech Portfolio - October 10, 2018

The thINCubator was the site of a March 27th Tech Transfer Summit attended by personnel representing the major stakeholders in Air Force Research Lab Tech Transfer. Discussions focused on the “How” of tech transfer. The “Why” is well understood – AFRL’s $1B/year contracted research budget could be a major stimulus for our regional economy as well as other areas of the country.

The organizations present at this Summit represent the first attempts at bringing together the ecosystem necessary for this task. In addition to a tech transfer ecosystem there is also a need for tools that can help with the transfer of advanced technology. Several of these tools are already in place. In future blog entries I hope to expand on some of these tech transfer tools. One theme of the summit meeting is that we need outsiders to evaluate AFRL technology in light of where it might fit in today’s business market. University students are already beginning this work as part of two SUNY Poly courses this spring.

In attendance were representatives of AFRL, AFRL Research Contractors (Assured Information Security (AIS), Intelligent Automation Inc (IAI) ), Business Support Organizations (Syracuse CASE, the thINCubator, Griffiss Institute, SBDC at SUNY Poly), Universities (SUNY Poly, Utica College) and the CAESAR Group. Noticeably absent was representation from “Product” companies who would be the users of AFRL technology.